The Mourner's Kaddish
The mourner's prayer, in Aramaic, said with a minyan. It magnifies God rather than death.
On the Horizon
- 1Sukkotסוכות
- 71Chanukahחנוכה
- 179Purimפורים
Foundations of Belief
Who is a Jew?
Jewish identity has both a Halachic definition and a wider self-understanding. The two do not always coincide.
The Halachic rule of matrilineal descent is sourced in Devarim 7:3–4 and elaborated in Talmud Kiddushin 68b, where the Sages derive from the verse that a child’s status follows the mother. The Mishneh Torah (Hilchot Issurei Biah 15:3) and the Shulchan Aruch (Even Ha’Ezer 4:19) codify this as binding.
Conversion (giyur) is the second route. A valid Orthodox conversion requires acceptance of the mitzvot (kabbalat ol mitzvot), circumcision (for men), and immersion in a mikveh (ritual bath), all under the supervision of a beit din (rabbinical court) of three observant Jews. Conservative conversions are conducted on similar lines with some halachic variation; Reform conversions typically omit the requirement of immersion and circumcision in some communities.
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Why Did God Create the World?
Three classical answers — the rationalist, the kabbalist, and the Hasidic — and why each is illuminating.
What Is Mussar?
The Jewish discipline of character refinement — old as the Talmud, formalized in the 19th century by Rabbi Yisrael Salanter.
Hasidism vs. Mitnagdism
The great 18th-century split that still shapes the contemporary Orthodox world.
Start HereThe first five stops on a guided reading path.
Follow the Path →The Sections
Ten ways into a practice.
These ten sections have been designed first as a structured guide for learning, and second as an almanac for free exploration.